A Mini B & A, and The End of The World As We Know It

Well hello there. I've been off the computer for the last few days because G's cousin was visiting and also because I'm deep, deep into procrastination. I hung out in the English department last week and made some initial copies. I'm going again this week. I'd love to say that the syllabus is finalized and assignments are set and All The Things are ready, but I can't. I've got a couple more (small) summer trips planned and then the semester will be upon us.

It's the end of the world as we know it.

Last week I was on a roll in the back yard. I still have a lot of work to do, but the view from inside the house is getting better! Check it out!

Before

The thing to notice is all the plants and crap everywhere. We've basically focused on the front yard and ignored the back yard for the last three years...

After

This isn't a perfect shot, but you can see that all the weeds have been pulled and the area has been cleaned up. I even got a plant in order to add a little color back there! The rest of the back yard is still trashed, but that's OK because it lowers my blood pressure to look out the kitchen door and not see a swamp. The back yard will take a few years to get in order; we're not sure what to do about that tree stump and the old deck. Renovations are needed but so are international vacations and until a rich benefactor surfaces to subsidize our lifestyle, we have to make the hard choices.

Speaking of hard choices, we have snacked on 7-layer dip and caramel sea salt brownies every night while watching the Olympics. I topped the brownies with Southern Butter Pecan ice cream and Trader Joe's pecan pralines. I don't want to say it was a religious experience, but, yeah.

All I've done the last few days is eat, eat, and eat. We drove around the Rockies and the cousins watched a baseball game and we've spent many hours camped out in front of the Olympics.

Tomorrow I must be disciplined.